Page 9 of A Reclusive Heart

Dana frowned, looking thoughtful. “Have I read anything you wrote?”

Nick chuckled. “Probably, but she writes under a pen name.”

“What name?” Edward asked, kissing the top of Dana’s head.

“J.L. Lewis,” Nick announced to her horror.

Why must the man do things like this? Did he enjoy humiliating her? First, with the tampon and the toilet shield, then he put her down in Rick’s office for a good half-hour. Now, he was determined to have another laugh at her expense. Like Dana Pierce really knew who she was. Puhlease. That was so ridicu-

“The J.L. Lewis of theImmortals on Earthseries andVampires of the Heartseries?” Dana Pierce asked with a deadly serious expression that kind of scared her a bit there.

Wow, Jamie thought, Dana Pierce heard about her books. That was pretty cool. Of course, she probably only heard about her series from Rick since she doubted that someone like Dana Pierce actually read her work.

“That’s her,” Nick said casually.

Dana’s jaw dropped.

Jamie became worried.

“Honey? Are you okay?” Edward asked, frowning when Dana suddenly went still in his arms.

Not bothering to answer, Dana rushed towards her, scaring the crap out of her as she took Jamie’s hands in hers and said, “I’m your biggest fan!”

CHAPTER 5

“You know, you don’t have to do this,” Jamie mumbled.

The two women who’d practically dragged her here slowly turned around, looking horrified. “Ilovemakeovers!” Amy Benet, Edward Pierce’s baby sister whispered reverently.

Dana chuckled. “She’s just hoping that we’ll let her out of this,” she said with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. This will be fun.”

Jamie wasn’t so sure of that as she glanced past the two women towards the open floor of the upscale beauty parlor.

“Besides, Rerum Publishing is paying for this, so I say enjoy it,” Dana said with a firm nod.

Amy quickly agreed, making Jamie fight back a smile. These women were nothing like she’d expected. Never in a million years had she expected that Dana Pierce would drag through her house to her private office so that Jamie could autograph a piece of paper for her. She also hadn’t expected Dana to call her sister-in-law and brag that J.L. Lewis was in her house. That, of course, made the other woman screech and demand that no one move until she got there.

Now, they were embarking on what could only be described as a day of torture. The women argued with Nick for over an hour about what needed to be done. When Nick explained what he wanted done she’d frowned along with Amy and Dana. Even Edward Pierce looked a little confused by his request to turn her into a nerd.

Thankfully, the women shut him down. When he’d argued, Dana enlisted the help of her three boys and little girl to chase Nick out of the house with water guns. The new game plan now was hair, makeup, laser eye surgery if it turned out that she was a candidate, and then clothes.

Jamie didn’t have much hope, but she didn’t say anything. She knew that she wasn’t pretty. Caitlyn was the pretty sister. Everyone always said so. Jamie was the smart one, the responsible one. It was the role she’d been born into and accepted without complaint. Never once had she even considered, well, not really, at least, having a makeover. What was the point? There wasn’t enough makeup in the world to turn this ugly duckling into a swan. There was no point in getting her hopes up.

She didn’t want to waste Rerum Publishing’s money either, but Dana and Amy were so excited to do this for her that she couldn’t bring herself to tell them that it was pointless. She just hoped when this was all over that they weren’t too disappointed.

Nick glancedat his watch as he climbed out of the car.

“Shit,” he muttered as he headed for the front door.

It was almost nine o’clock and he was more than two hours late picking Jamie up. Dana was going to be pissed, but there was no helping it. He’d just spent the last eleven hours makingphone calls, sending emails, and overseeing five assistants, all so that he could make J.L. Lewis’ introduction to the world perfect.

This was the big chance he’d been waiting for and he wasn’t about to let anyone mess it up, not even J.L. Lewis herself, especially not J.L. Lewis. This was his big break. This was his Dana Pierce. When he was done, everyone was going to know who J.L. Lewis was and it would all be thanks to him.

Before he got the chance to knock on the door, it was yanked open. A disheveled looking Dana stood in the doorway wearing a silk robe. He ran his eyes over her, noting that her lips were puffy and her hair was messy and couldn’t help but smile.

“Did I interrupt something?” Nick asked innocently.

Dana blew out an exasperated breath, sending a strand of hair out of her face. “You’re late.”

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